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This work treats the structure and variablity of basic physical fields in a thin near-surface layer which responds quickly to all short-term and local fluctuations of atmosphere forcing and of radiative solar energy flux. It contains information on different phenomena and processes in this layer based on research conducted over the last ten years. Topics covered include: basic types of vertical thermal structure of near-surface layers; anomalous phenomena on the ocan surface; thermal and haline boundary layers, its structures and relations to convection; diurnal thermocline and cycle nature of related processes; effects of precipitation on near-surface salinity and thermal structure; peculiarities of near-surface ocean currents; coherent (organized) forms of non-stationary currents (mushroom currents or vortex dipoles, transversal jets in coastal upwellings, vortices and jets in marginal ice zones); and some aspects of effectiveness of remote sensing of the ocean by aerospace technique. This book should be of interest to oceanographers, physicists, marine meteorologists and researchers in the field of remote sensing of the ocean.
Part 1 Object and methods of the investigation: object of the investigation and its basic characteristics; basic types of vertical thermal structure of the near surface layer of the ocean and several characteristics of the temperature variability in it; variability of salinity in the near surface layer of the ocean; methods of studying the near surface layer of the ocean. Part 2 The surface of the ocean and its anomalous conditions: the role of the free surface of the ocean in the formation of the structure and regimes of the near surface layer; anomalous conditions of the ocean surface; anomalous phenomena on the ocean surface through observations of seamen. Part 3 The thermal boundary layer of the ocean and the primary scales of convection: on "warm" and "cold" boundary layers; the structure of the warm boundary layer; the cold boundary layer; methodological questions on measuring the temperature difference in the thermal boundary layer of the ocean; practical problems arising in connection with the contribution of the thermal boundary layer in the overall variability of temperature of the near surface layer of the ocean; on the satellite measurement of the ocean surface temperature. Part 4 The cyclical nature and space structure of the near-surface layer in connection with solar heating and convection: volume absorption of solar energy in the near-surface layer of the ocean; irradiance models; propagation of cyclical heating through the near-surface layer thickness; the diurnal (daily) thermocline and variability of the thermal structure of the near-surface layer of the ocean in a diurnal cycle; the blocking role of the diurnal thermocline with regard to turbulence in the near-surface layer of the ocean; typical scales and characteristics of space structure inhomogeneities of the near-surface layer of the ocean. Part 5 Characteristic features of water motion in the near-surface layer of the ocean: what are the components of the currents that are recorded in the near-surface layer of the ocean?; marginal ice zones; coherent (ordered) forms of non-stationary motion in the near-surface layer of the ocean. Part 6 The near-surface layer and the effectiveness of remote sensing of the ocean: on the oceanological information content of the temperature fields of the surface and near-surface layer of the ocean; an estimate of the velocity field characteristics by a passive tracer observation in the near-surface layer of the ocean; on the information content of the characteristics of surface waves.
